emotion
Americannoun
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emotions
plural
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an affective state of consciousness in which joy, sorrow, fear, hate, or the like, is experienced, as distinguished from cognitive and volitional states of consciousness.
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any of the feelings of joy, sorrow, fear, hate, love, etc.
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any strong agitation of the feelings actuated by experiencing love, hate, fear, etc., and usually accompanied by certain physiological changes, as increased heartbeat or respiration, and often overt manifestation, as crying or shaking.
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an instance of this.
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something that causes such a reaction.
the powerful emotion of a great symphony.
noun
Usage
What does emotion mean? An emotion is a spontaneous mental reaction, such as joy, sorrow, hate, and love. Emotions always involve mental activity and sometimes have physical effects on the body, as in She could tell what emotion he was feeling by looking at his face. The word emotion is used generally to refer collectively to these intense feelings or an expression of them, as in The director really wanted to see some emotion from the lead actress. What causes someone’s emotions and how someone feels or expresses their emotions differs from person to person. You and your friend might both feel sad to have failed an important test. Your reaction to your sad emotion might be to cry, while your friend’s reaction might be to shout. The word emotional describes something that is related to emotions, causing an emotion to happen, or easily experiencing emotions. Example: I have a hard time sharing my emotions with people and instead try to appear stoic.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of emotion
First recorded in 1570–80; apparently from Middle French esmotion, from esmovoir “to set in motion, move the feelings,” from Vulgar Latin exmovēre (unrecorded; literary Latin ēmovēre ); see e- 1 ( def. ), move ( def. ), motion ( def. )
Explanation
An emotion is a strong feeling, like the emotion you feel when you see your best friend at the movies with a group of people who cause trouble for you. The word emotion comes from the Middle French word émotion, which means "a (social) moving, stirring, agitation." We feel many different emotions every day, like love, fear, joy and sadness — just to name a few. On its own, emotion means "the expression of feeling," like a musician who plays with great emotion, or an actor whose face conveys emotions, even when he or she is just standing quietly on the stage.
Vocabulary lists containing emotion
The SAT: Language of the Test, List 4
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The New SAT: The Language of the Test
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"Fears and Phobias," Vocabulary from the article
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
“There’s a desperation among regular working people in California,” Hilton said, his voice shaking with emotion.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 6, 2026
Bouncing between Dallas and New York City as she pursues a writing career, she dedicates seemingly boundless energy and emotion to men who are unsuitable, unavailable or both.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 5, 2026
Brand, who stood upright in the dock, showed limited emotion as the verdicts were read out.
From BBC ● Nov. 5, 2026
In Piedmont, Esposito said he hoped his tradition would continue and spoke of the "emotion" of truffle hunting.
From Barron's ● Nov. 4, 2026
This is something that makes me feel the human emotion of happy deep in my system.
From "A Rover's Story" by Jasmine Warga
But the function is the same: The stage provides a channel for the repressed emotions of these characters.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 6, 2026
He typically points them to the firm’s reliance on its sell criteria, rather than emotions or momentum.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2026
"I knew that I had to get it really accurate because of the emotions tied with Bonnie," he said.
From BBC ● Nov. 5, 2026
"There's a certain sense of timelessness to the emotions and the values which Ramayana stands for and that is exactly what we wanted to bring to the rest of the world," he said.
From Barron's ● Nov. 5, 2026
Nathan’s emotions swelled up and pinned him back down onto the mattress.
From "Healer of the Water Monster" by Brian Young
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
